1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a carrier tape, and particularly to a carrier tape having a plurality of tape carrier packages provided at a regular interval on a lengthy insulating tape and a plurality of integrated circuit devices mounted to each of the plurality of tape carrier packages.
2. Description of the Related Art
A method of implementing an integrated circuit device to a tape carrier package is widely used in recent years as an implementation method of an integrated circuit device. With its flexibility and capability to handling fine pitch, a tape carrier package is currently a primary method of implementing an integrated circuit device that supplies driving signal for LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) panel.
Such type carrier packages are manufactured on a lengthy carrier tape and shipped for a user to place to a chip mounter. The chip mounter punches out a tape carrier package one by one from a carrier tape and implements the punched tape carrier packages to a liquid crystal display panel.
In processes from implementing an integrated circuit device on a patterned insulating tape to a process of punching tape carrier packages out from a carrier tape, a potential difference could be generated between integrated circuit devices placed adjacent to each other due to an electrification by friction between components, thereby causing to damage integrated circuit devices by discharged static electricity.
To prevent integrated circuit devices from being damaged by electrostatic discharge, a carrier tape is suggested in which all plurality of input terminals formed on each tape carrier package are electrically short-circuited by the same potential lines, as well as electrically short-circuiting all plurality of output terminals formed on each tape carrier package by the same potential lines (for example in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2003-318232, FIG. 1 and paragraph [0027]).
However it has been discovered that in the technique disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Publication No. 2003-318232, all plurality of input and output terminals are short-circuited by the same potential lines, and it is therefore not possible to perform a performance test on integrated circuit device such as checking input/output of a signal by applying a probe pin to an input or output pin until a tape carrier package is punched out from a carrier tape.